It's Wednesday at the Imaginarium

Hello Troops,
We are well into the thick of it at the Space Center. It's day 3 since we all returned to school and work. The staff seems to have adjusted back into the cycle of get up, work, school, bed. The simulators are behaving as expected except for a few glitches. The Galileo put me in a foul mood yesterday. Foul moods dampen my usual cheery disposition. The amp didn't come on so the ship had no sound. Perfect timing too, the field trip was ready to fly A Diet Coke Zero brought me out of it (whoops, the secret's out. The way to pull Mr. W. happy out of a foul mood is a Diet Coke Zero served at exactly 33 degrees. A box of Whoppers has been know to help as well).

We've enjoyed telling Midnight Rescue for the past couple days. It makes a nice change from endless tellings of Perikoi. It's the variety that makes it survivable.

By the way, the summer camp schedule is almost ready to be posted, I worked on it yesterday. Be sure to sign up for summer camp.

OK, how about a few items from the Imaginarium to get your Wednesday off to a good start. I've got a few examples for you today.

We start with this...

Yep, I admire the attitude displayed in this picture.

Everyone wears this "I'm completely normal and I'm cool," front so they can better fit in with the crowd they want to hang with. That is normal. We all want to be part of a tribe, but what are you like when there isn't a soul around to impress? Yes, yes..... The sign is right isn't it? You've got your weird ways like everyone else. Just to let you in on a secret; its that peppering of weird that makes you, YOU. It's what the people that know you best, like about you. So, let the real you out once in awhile for an airing. It will do your soul good.

By the way, are you as sick of winter as this snowman? I was fed up with winter last Tuesday. I drove to Harts to pick up my morning Diet Dew and Snack Wells. I found my car door's lock frozen when I returned to my car. The automatic unlock button stopped working a year ago so I was stuck. I wasn't wearing a coat which made matters worse. A jacket wasn't very effective in the 15 degree weather. Five minutes of shivering and working the lock finally opened the door. I was in a foul mood. Winter is officially scratched off my favorite seasons list.

And finally, something from Lego that shows real imagination.

Have a good day and I'll see you at the Space Center. Make it sooner rather than later.

Mr. W.

P.S. Cloverdale's Bookmobile is coming to your street. Click here to look at the new titles.

http://ourcloverdale.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-donations-to-cloverdale-village.html

Procrastinators of the World, Unite!

Hello Troops,
I'm sitting at home shell shocked and attempting to come to terms with he fact that this is my last day of leave before I pick up my kit and splosh through the slush and muck, across field and forest, to rejoin my comrades in the trenches. Ignorance is once again to be engaged. Our holiday truce is concluded. One more good meal tonight, then its a steady diet of rations; warm beans (if we can make a fire) perhaps flavored with a bit of pork rind. The brown water the cook calls coffee will wash it down.

I had great expectations for this Christmas vacation. There was a list of things I'd hoped to accomplish but didn't. There's a little angel sitting on my right shoulder right now, chastising me for my laziness. There's a little devil sitting on my left shoulder congratulating me for slacking off. My current headache is the result of their quarrel.
"That list will have to be done. You've just procrastinated," the angel is saying to me.
"There's always tomorrow," the devil just countered.

Sometimes you just need to just stop on life's busy highway and vegetate. Sometimes you need to grab a hot cup of whatever and just stare. I've been known to stare out the window or at a point on the wall or at people I don't even know or at that box in the living room (whether its on or off). I let my brain drift to find its own course, taking me along for the ride. Of course this kind of mental adventuring requires a great deal of sustenance. Frequent trips to the kitchen provide the fuel and Christmas time is always the best time to find the most delicious mental fuel laying about.

I noticed my belt has shrunk over the past two weeks. Cheap leather is the only explanation. I'll have to either purchase a new belt or make fewer trips to the kitchen. Hummmmmm, I hate tough choices.

Space Center News:

• The Galileo is about to get a new set of simulator controls. Our Programming Guild has been working for months creating ship controls in Cocoa (Apple's language for the iPad and iPhone).
• The Magellan has a couple new large signs to dress up its blank white walls. We hope to have more made.
• The Phoenix's Control Room was reorganized. The Phoenix staff have more counter space now.
• I took a few minutes yesterday and started up the Voyager. The Voyager has a personality of its own and if its neglected too long (like the past two weeks we've been closed) it acts up and throws a bit of a temper tantrum (meaning something won't work, either a computer or sound mixer or monitor). I spoke nicely to the ship before I started anything. I turned on the lights, went up to the bridge and explained why we've been gone for so long. I told her that she was never forgotten during our absence and how excited we all were to come back. With fingers crossed I started to turn everything on. I'm happy to report that the Voyager responded well to my soliloquy. Everything ran perfectly. Fingers crossed I get the same results tomorrow.

OK, how about a G Rated Sunday chuckle? Of course you won't get it if you don't know your basic physics. By the way, this is Sheldon from "The Big Bang". It's a better than your average run of the mill comedy.


Have a Great Sunday and I'll See Many of You in the Trenches This Week.

Mr. W.

P.S.
Read about the strange Implosion in Cloverdale, but keep it hush hush. Something just released on the notorious CloverLeaks.

http://ourcloverdale.blogspot.com/2011/01/cloverleaks-brings-you-truth-about.html

Dreading the Return to School Are We? A Letter from the Minister of Education.

Hello Troops,

I spoke to a few former students as I left the school today (yes, it may come as a shock, but some of us have to work for a living). They were hanging out on the playground. They were having a good time until I asked if they were ready to go back to school. Wow, talk about a mood changer. The air suddenly got dark. They described what seemed to be a concentration camp where their freedoms were suspended and they had to 'tow the mark' or else. Of course everything they said was exaggerated but it did get me thinking, and when I start thinking you'd better expect a post.

So, in the spirit of good fun, I wrote this letter to those students from the school they described to me.

Mr. W.

P.S. Thanks to thepeoplescube.com for a few of the pictures below.

This message was brought to you by
The Ministry of Truth, Education and Propaganda (Minitrue).
We Think, So You Don't Have To.

A Message from

Silas T. Sludge
Minister of Truth, Education and Propaganda
Pleasant Grove

Attention All Students:

School vacation is coming to an end. As the Minister of Education I urge to put away your newly acquired distractions (given to you for no apparent reason other than you were born) and reacquaint yourselves with your textbooks and school schedules.

All students are ordered to return to our schools Monday morning displaying happy and cheerful dispositions. Of course, once the bell rings, you will immediately take your learning positions as displayed in the photograph above, taken from your Good Student Handbook issued at the start of the school year.

Any student caught in any state of semiconsciousness will be dealt with according to the rules and regulations outlined on pages 10 through 15 in your handbook. Discussions of what you did during the holiday are permitted in the common areas and cafeteria only.

Remember the sacrifice society has made to ensure you have a good school to attend. Think of your parents working day in and day out without complaining so you have this opportunity. An opportunity many children do not have. Look how tired they are at the end of their work day - all for you.

How will you thank them for this sacrifice? Will you toil forward, always forward, toward the end goal of graduation and finding a meaningful role to fill in our society? It is expected.


This is Albert Slipple. He exemplifies the Ministry's idea of a proper student. He rises early and fixes breakfast for himself, his brothers and sisters and his working parents. He does the dishes before leaving his modest apartment for the six mile walk to school. He keeps himself company on the long arduous trek by singing songs of courage and steadfastness. His grades are always top of the class. He sings in the school choir. He helps the school custodians. He works with the school's headmaster by reporting on students that have forgotten the rules as outlined in his well worn and memorized Good Student Handbook.

Delma Dropsley, on the other hand, is a student recommended for special care as outlined in your Good Student Handbook. She is often late for school and becomes distracted easily. She has been known to question the rules and has used unapproved colors in her science notebook. She has also been found on numerous occasions loitering outside one of the city's schools after school hours instead of working at home on her homework. Such behavior cannot be tolerated.

Remember, school is a happy place. It is your home away from home. It is a place deserving your love and complete and undivided attention. It is a place where you can forget who you are and focus instead on what is expected of you. It is a place where the confusion of free thinking is shackled and replaced the knowledge that we will do the thinking for you.

If you find yourself questioning this, please report your disturbing thoughts to a teacher, headmaster, custodian or lunch lady. We are here to help you be happy and have ways to help clear your thoughts from distractions. You must trust us.

Welcome Back to Where you Belong!

Signed,
Silas T. Sludge

ALERT....... ALERT...... ALERT.......

You were caught snickering during the reading of this letter. This is a violation of the Good Student Handbook. You have been reported. Your misconduct number is below:


Follow the instructions as given in your certificate of misconduct. And shame on you.

_________________________________________________________________


Hello Again Troops,
Well, did I get it right? How many of you are feeling the dread of returning to our "mind control factories"? It's not so bad. Think if it this way - summer vacation is a mere five months away!

And how about a bit of tele from the Imaginarium to brighten this cold day? This clip comes from the Imaginarium's Comedy School. It is the kind of school where your can let your imagination run wild to produce some very clever things.

Mr. W.

P.S. Cloverleaks revealed what really happened on Millstone Road.
http://ourcloverdale.blogspot.com/2011/01/cloverleaks-brings-you-truth-about.html